Giant Cyclone Safety Coaster

Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters were a model line of roller coasters which were designed and marketed by Harry Traver and his company Traver Engineering in the 1920s. Despite their name, they had a dangerous reputation and are regarded by many historians as some of the most fearsome roller coasters ever built.

Robert Cartmell described Traver's coasters as embodying "the reckless spirit of the 1920s". They were built with fully steel frames which had laminated wood and steel tracks. Wood was laminated between 6 and 9 boards thick, depending on the coaster. The steel frames were fabricated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and then shipped by rail to their building sites. The building sites were typically on level ground, and in many cases were by beaches or piers. The main exception, The Palisades Cyclone, suffered increased maintenance problems as a result. The laminated wood also had problems with moisture at many locations.

The geometry of Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters was extreme compared to other roller coasters of the time period. The coasters featured very tight turns, spirals, and figure eights. These elements drew inspiration from the swoops and spirals of earlier Prior and Church roller coasters like The Bobs. Curves on Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters were often banked to much steeper angles, with some approaching 85 degrees. Beyond the many curves, another element common to the steel-framed Traver coasters were undulating "jazz tracks", meaning that Traver's Cyclones had almost no straight track in their entire course.

The benefits of a steel-framed structure was one of the biggest selling points which was put forward by the Traver Engineering Company. Quicker (and therefore less costly) set-up times were one promoted aspect of the all-steel frames. A resistance to fire and rot were other advantages over wood that were advertised for Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters. Despite the advertisement of low maintenance costs, however, these coasters were actually quite demanding on a maintenance crew. What little wood there was experienced moisture problems, and the coasters were not wholly invulnerable to fire either. The Palisades Park Cyclone, for example, was damaged when the wooden track on the coaster partially burned.

The model line of Jazz Railways (built at Rocky Glen Park and other locations) was marketed by Traver as the first roller coaster to utilize a completely steel frame. Its stretches of rapidly undulating track were also an innovative feature that saw use in the later Traver Cyclones.

...
Wikipedia